Gone, But Not Forgotten
by chthonicAsylum
Summary: Cadance Cadash receives word that her brother was killed in an ambush. Cole pays her a visit.


Cole came to her when she was sitting alone on one of her balconies, sipping some of the strongest ale they had on hand and staring at the moon. She looked graceful with her hair down and sturdy form wrapped in a black dress. She wouldn't let anyone else see her like this; not even him, but he didn't often bother with one's wants, only their needs.

He padded silently across the stone floor and rugs. She was completely unaware of him, but he was used to that. He wanted that, most of the time. She turned to take a sip of her drink, an aroma reminiscent regret and sorrow wafting from it. 'It must be the hottest thing in Orlais right now.' Varric would say. Cole never understood how food and drink could taste like despair or any other emotion. Despair wasn't a taste, it was a sound that permeated the air and rang in his head, whispering the thoughts of the hurting and echoing with the sound of their heartbreak.

As she raised the bottle to her lips, she saw him standing rigid and staring with those wide, unblinking eyes. She set the brew back on the table and looked back at him silently, face contorted in understanding and a sense of being tired. She was so tired. A cold mountain wind blew the curtains around the open glass door, obscuring Cole from her sight. She turned to look across the table and there he was again, sitting just as rigidly as he stood before in the other chair.

"Good evening, Cole." She nodded to him and leaned back in her chair. A relaxed pose, but the sleeplessness in her eyes and the frown on her face made it out to be one of thinly veiled unease. Cole took all of her in, the dart of her eyes away every time she tried and failed to make eye contact, the tiny, uneven gasps of breath that served as a hint to either recent or oncoming tears, the way her hand grasped the arm of her chair, turning scarred knuckles white as she tried to restrain whatever it was that needed to be locked inside.

She knew she couldn't hide things from him, however.

"A boy with laughing eyes pulls tiny hands. 'Run, before mother finds out!' He cries. The market is safe till nightfall." His gaze doesn't leave her as he recites her thoughts allowed.

"He ruined the pie mother made for dessert and we hid. I was seven and he was eleven." She recites right back to him, staring at the sky.

"The scars are still bleeding. His nose shouldn't turn like that. His arms ache but he continues to carry. A vow never to be stupid again." He sees her flinch.

"We were scouting a road for a shipment together. Highwaymen attacked and he pushed me back to take the blow and carried me home because I sprained my ankle. We should have been paying more attention." She stares at her hands now, placed in her lap like a lady's.

"Words declared on a paper. Daggers stowed away in a chest, two more in his. Last words never known. The others didn't hear," She finally looks at him and he sees the glow of tears obscuring green eyes. "He wanted to be home, with Kayla, with you."

"How do you know?" Silent tears and a broken voice. She's found the courage to look him in the eye and all he sees is the despair that has been whispering through the evening. All she sees is wisps of what he truly is within that human shell.

"He doesn't want you sad. He wants you strong and solid again. He saw the Stone in you more than it ever was in him. A pillar, standing perfect among unearthed ruins." He stands, she stands. He steps forward, she stands still. Tears blur the night drenched balcony and she's hyper aware of the sudden feeling of fabric and lean, warm arms encircling her. For a moment she can feel him, her brother, engulfing her within his embrace and hears his whisper calling her Cady. The moment passes and she hugs Cole back, ever so gently. He doesn't make physical content often, she knows.

"Thank you, Cole." She breathes out, tears cascading.

"I couldn't make you forget. He wouldn't let me."

She finds herself standing alone on the balcony, overlooking the snowy mountains and hiccuping just a bit as the crying slowly subsides. The Stone sings to her to sleep that night.


End file.
